Chest bed



United States Patent 3,389,410 CHEST BED John G. Weigel, 10334 Mull Ave., Riverside, Calif. 92505 Filed Mar. 11, 1966, Ser. No. 533,487 3 Claims. (Cl. 5-308) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A chest bed comprising a box-like frame suitable for the support of a polyurethane mattress for sleeping purposes and having built-in drawers for the storage of cloth ing, or the like, in the space underneath the mattress. The chest bed has a folding desk attached to at least one of its end boards which can be folded flat thereagainst when not in use and opened to provide an outwardly extending writing and drawing surface as the need arises.

This invention relates generally to furniture means having dual purpose bed and storage utility and, in some instances, desk utility.

A conventional bed is a relatively bulky item of furniture which takes up much room, a sizeable portion of which comprises the empty space normally found underneath its spirngs. This empty space is, in a sense, wasted because it is too restricted and inaccessible for practical storage, or other use, the principal reason for this being the fact that bed height is, for obvious reasons, pretty much standardized and the springs, mattress and frame components of the conventional bed occupy too much of its bulk space to leave a suitable margin for any other purpose. In addition to serving no useful purpose, the empty space under the ordinary bed acts as a dust trap, thereby creating additional work for the housewife who is already overburdened with cleaning and dusting chores in the maintenance of the average home.

I have now improvised an unusual item of furniture which is both a bed, and, as a result of a unique variance from conventional bed design, subsequently to be disclosed, a chest, or equivalent means, for the storage of clothing and the like, the improvisation being made possible by an increased availability of underbed space resulting from the indicated design variance. In a nutshell, my new furniture item comprises a bed with storage drawers, or the like, built into its underbed space. The term underbed space, as employed here, and elsewhere throughout this specification, imports the obvious, that is, the space underneath a bed, or beds, as the came might be.

My new furniture item will hereinafter, for simplicitys sake, be referred to as a chest bed (although, as will be seen, its structure can vary from the literal scope'of that term). In a preferred form, the chest bed has a folding desk attachment on at least one of its ends.

The aforesaid variance of my new chest bed from conventional bed design is a complete absence of bed springs, this being made possible by the use of polyurethane foam mattresses which, as bed manufacturers and those of similar skills will appreciate, have the necessary qualities of long-lived resilience, firmness and durability to permit them to be used without bed springs over extended periods of time. The elimination of springs as a bed component results in a sufficient increase in underbed space to justify use of the latter for storage purposes, a fact which gave 3,389,410 Patented June 25, 1968 "ice rise to the present invention. Several distinct advantages accrue from the utilization of underbed space for storage purposes, chief among which are the obvious space saving benefits occurrent in the resulting hybridization of at least two major items of bedroom furniture (the bed and chest of drawers or bureau) in a single functional Piece, and substantial elimination of the underbed dust catching environment of the conventional bed.

It is thus a principal object of the present invention to provide a single article of bedroom furniture so combinative of bed and storage utility as to be of substantial space-saving effectiveness in bedrooms, particularly those of limited size such as found in small apartments, mobile homes, etc.

It is another object of the invention to provide such an article of furniture of attractive appearance, relatively low cost and relatively light weight, and which is compact and easy to disassemble for greater storing, shipping, moving, etc., convenience.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a bed which, unlike most conventional ones, has substantially no dust and dirt catching underbed environment.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide an improved article of bedroom furniture having desk means attached with consequent room space and furniture cost savings advantages.

It is another object of the invention to provide bed means requiring no springs with consequent first and parts replacement cost savings advantages.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear in the light of the following description, considered conjunctively with the accompanying drawing showing a preferred embodiment of the chest bed, of which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the chest bed, complete with made-up bed covers.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary view of the chest bed with focal emphasis on a folding desk attached to its foot portion, the desk being shown in an open position of particular suitability for writing purposes.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the FIG- URE 2 portion of the chest bed, showing, additionally and in phantom outline, an alternative position of the desk top particularly suitable for drawing purposes, and also showing, this time in dotted outline, the hidden contour of a receptive opening in the main body portion of the bed for a projecting part of the desk top.

FIGURE 4 is a view, partly in section and of reduced scale, of the rear end of the chest bed with its folding desk attachment in the position shown in FIGURE 2, the view being taken along line 4-4 of FIGURE 3 but omitting the phantom line representation of the desk top in the latter figure.

Considering now the drawing in greater detail, there is shown generally at 10 the aforesaid chest bed, hereinafter referred to as chest bed 10, comprising a box-like frame 12 with end boards 14 and 16 removably attached to its ends by screw means, not shown. Frame 12 is, as indicated, of box-like form, being generally equivalent in bulk and shape to the combined springs and frame of a Hollywood bed. In the latter connection, it is pointed out that frame 12 is not intended to represent any particular bed size and can be suitably dimensioned. for twin, double, king-size, etc., bed use. Frame 12 and end boards 14 and 16 are made of wood, although any other suitable ma- 3 terial could be used in lieu of, or inconjunction with, wood, if desired.

The top of frame 12, not visible in the drawing, is preferably a piece of reinforced A-inch plywood (having the dual advantage of high strength and low weight) shaped to receive a mattress of predetermined size. Such a mattress, wrapped in bed covers, is shown at 18 on the drawing and will be hereinafter referred to as mattress 18. Mattress 18 has, for reasons subsequently to be explained, a polyurethane foam filler. It will be clear from the way the bed covers are arranged in FIGURE 1 that the head of the bed is to the right in that view and hereinafter the end board adjacent that end of the bed (end board 14) will be referred to as headboard 14, and the other end board as footboard 16.

Box-like frame 12 is, in a sense, the functional equivalent of the frame of a conventional bed. However, chest bed 10, as previously indicated, requires no springs for the support of its mattress which, as a result, rests directly on top of frame 12, also as previously indicated. Frame 12 has a curb strip bordering either side of its plywood top to prevent excessive sidewise movement of mattress 18 in use, one such strip being shown at 13 on the drawing. The absence of bulky springs gives chest bed it) enough underbed space to feasibly salvage for storage purposes, consistent with previous generalizations to the point herein.

Substantially filling the underbed space of chest bed are six equally sized drawers 20, arranged in two tiers as shown in FIGURE 1, and supporting structure therefor. The drawers are of the recessed pull type, and their supporting structure is designed and constructed, in accordance with known furniture making techniques, to permit drawer accessibility from one side of frame 12, all as illustrated in the drawing, and particularly FIGURE 1. Drawers 2-0 add an attractive, finished appearance to chest bed 10, by filling what would otherwise be a cavernous underbed hollow, and help to convert the bed into a uniquely interesting piece of hybrid furniture worthy of display in any bedroom but having particular utility in cramped bedroom quarters of the type found in small apartments, mobile homes, etc.

As FIGURES 3 and 4 show to best advantage, end boards 14 and 16 are characterized by corner foot extensions 22 which serve to support the chest bed in level position on a floor, or other flat surface. Except for narrow interfoot spaces between the bottom edges of frame 12 and such a floor, or other, surface of support, the underbed space of the chest bed is completely surrounded by the the structure of box-like frame 12, and the fronts of drawers 20 when the latter are in their normally closed positions, the rear side of the frame, not visible in the drawing, being a solid panel. Thus enclosed, and, of course, compartmented by drawers 20, the underbed space of the chest bed does not act as a dust and dirt catcher in the way the underbed space of a conventional bed does. This results in a cleaner bedroom with less effort on the part of the housewife, and constitutes an important feature of my invention.

The foregoing is sufficiently complete, it is believed, to teach the necessary essentials of structure, function and use of the basic chest bed 10 unit to those skilled in the arts with which this invention is concerned. One point is perhaps worthy of amplification, however, this having to do with the polyurethane foam character, previously adverted to, of mattress 18. In this connection, the mattress is filled with polyurethane foam because that material has such uniquely superior properties of long lasting resiliency, strength and durability as to ideally suit it for the intended purpose. More specifically, these properties render polyurethane foam so outstandingly superior, by comparison with conventional mattress fillers, as to permit the use of polyurethane foam mattresses without bed springs, this being, in a sense, the embryonic spark of the present invention in that it made my chest bed frame, with its inherent storage potential, realistically possible.

I lay no claim to the discovery of polyurethane foam, per se, but only to the discovery of a unique bed environment suitable for its use in mattress form with the fringe benefit advantages taught herein. No one has heretofore, to my knowledge, proposed such a bed arrangement, or anything similar thereto. Before proceeding further in the present vein, it should be noted that my chest bed is not limited to polyurethane foam mattress utilization, although no other type of mattress presently available is, at least insofar as I am aware, capable of satisfactorily serving the primary bed purpose of this invention, as explained below.

In the latter connection, the primary bed purpose of my invention is to satisfy the normal sleeping needs of the average person. Accordingly, the above discussion relative to chest bed usage of polyurethane foam mattresses is intended to import usage equivalent in sleeping comfort to that of a mattress and springs on a conventlonal bed frame. In other words, my chest bed is, at least in its preferred form as presently contemplated, the functional equivalent of a conventional bed with springs and a mattress, as opposed to a therapeutic, or other special type of, bed. In the latter connection, however, the chest bed is completely adaptable, by virtue of its fiat, hard frame top, to therapeutic use and can be easily employed for such purpose through utilization of a stiffer mattress than any heretofore considered. Such a mattress can, of course, be of other than the polyurethane foam type.

The procurement, manufacture, etc., of polyurethane foam mattresses suitable for purposes of the present invention will pose no difficulty to those skilled in the bed manufacturing, and related, arts, as will be readily apparent to persons so skilled in the light of the known state of polyurethane foam production and use technology coupled with the present teachings.

Turning again to consideration of the drawing, chest bed 10 is characterized by the presence of a folding desk attachment to its footboard 16, hereinafter referred to as folding desk 24. Folding desk 24 comprises, in part, a pair of rectangularly shaped leaves 28, so sized and positionally secured to footboard 16 by hinges 30 as to swing, in shutter-like fashion, around pirot points adjacent oppositely disposed lateral edges. The leaves are of equal size and large enough to cover most of the outer face of footboard 16 when placed flatly, in side by side and lateral edge meeting adjacency, thereover. Footboard 16 has a laterally central recess sized to snugly, but nonbindingly, receive leaves 28 in the above-noted positional arrangement, and the latter are hung, by means of hinges 30, on the footboard strips laterally adjacent the recess in such fashion as to permit the leaves to swing into, and meet at the center of, said recess, as illustrated in FIGURE 1, and swing out to open positions such as illustrated in FIGURES 2 through 4. The aforesaid recess is of sufiicient depth to receive leaves 28 to flushness of their outer surfaces with the nonrecessed outer surface of footboard 16.

Each of leaves 28 has a finger opening so positioned as to permit its use as a pull hole for leaf opening and closing purposes, one such hole being shown at 28a in FIGURES 2 and 3. The leaves are hung at the same level on footboard 16 with their bottom edges in vertical coincidence with the bottom edge of the footboard, as FIGURES 3 and 4 illustrate. To avoid any possibility of misunderstanding or confusion, it should be noted that all directionally and positionally definitive language here used in reference to chest bed 10, or any of its component parts, is to be construed, unless otherwise qualified, as referable to the chest bed in its position of normal use, as illustrated in the drawing.

Folding desk 24 comprises, in addition to leaves 28, a rectangular desk top member 32 having an outer surface 32a suitable for writing and drawing purposes, hingedly secured to footboard 16, by means of two hinges 34, in such fashion as to permit it to hang down from upper edge elevation coincidence with, and substantially flush against the outer surface of, the footboard (as illustrated in FIGURE 1), or be swung upwardly and outwardly on its hinges to positions suitable for writing and drawing purposes (as illustrated in FIGURES 2 through 4). The desk top member is of the same width as, but not as great in that dimension corresponding to the height of, footboard 16, as a result of which, its lower edge hangs above that of the footboard when it is in the hanging, or folded, position illustrated in FIGURE 1. There is no critical sigificance to these dimensions, however, and the size of the desk top member can vary to any extent consistent with continued operability of the folding desk as taught herein (this being true also of the leaves corresponding to leaves 28). As in the case of the frame and end board components of chest bed 10, the desk top and leaf components of the latter are made of wood, although other suitable materials of construction could be substituted for wood within the scope of the invention. Preferably, the desk components, and especially the desk top member, are made of suitably thick plywood, such as, for example, /2-inch plywood.

Desk top member 32 has a pair of elongate pins 36 fixedly secured, in perpendicular relationship, to its under, or inner, side. The pins are of equal length and positioned symmetrically about a line located medially between the lateral edges of said member, respectively near said lateral edges and far enough away from the hinges 34 connecting the member to footboard 16 to place them (the pins) near the outer ends of the upper edges of leaves 28 when the latter one swiveled to open positions thereunder, as illustrated in FIGURES 2 through 4. The folding desk, and other involved parts of chest bed are so sized, shaped and positionally integrated in the assembled chest bed as to insure horizontal disposition of the desk top member when its pins are supported on leaves 28 in the above-indicated manner. This represents the normal open position of the desk and is particularly suitable for writing purposes, as distinguished from another open desk position, later to be described, particularly suitable for drawing purposes.

As the drawing shows, pins 36 are roughly of a length equal to the width of a strip 16a of nonrecessed footboard between the top edge of said footboard and the leafreceiving recess therein. The top edge of each of leaves 28 has a shallow mating depression for the outer extremity of one of the pins 36, the depression being so situated as to permit the pin to seat itself therein when the leaf desk top member are placed in proper correspondence for the above-described use position of desk 24. The resulting pin-leaf depression interfit is illustrated at x on FIGURE 3 and its purpose is, of course, to help lock the desk components together for improved desk stability, and minimization of leaf migration, during periods of desk usage.

As will be clear from the foregoing, considered conjunctively with the drawing, folding desk 24 is readily converted from the folded position of FIGURE 1 to the above-described use position by swinging its desk top member 32 outwardly and upwardly around the footboard-anchored hinges 34 until leaves 28 can be opened to the extent illustrated in FIGURES 2 through 4, after which the leaves are opened and the desk top member carefully lowered until its pins 36 are eased into their respectively mating depressions in the upper leaf edges. After this simple procedure, the desk is in position for use with its top horizontally level. Sometimes, however, as where the desk is to be used for drawing purposes, an inclined, rather than a horizontal, top surface is preferred. In such a case, the desk can, as FIGURE 3 demonstrates, be readily set up in inclined top configuration by adjusting leaves 28 to swivel positions just far enough out of alignment with pins 36 to permit desk top member 32 to 6 rest directly on their outer corners, in the manner illustrated at y in FIGURE 3. The degree of desk top incline can, of course, be varied to some extent by shifting the positions of leaves 28 to change the locations of the points of leaf contact on the desk top member.

Appropriately located in footboard 16 are two apertures adapted to receive pins 36 when desk 24 is folded in its FIGURE 1 position. The apertures, one of which is shown at 16b are sized to admit pins; 36, respectively, in mating, but nonbinding, relationship. In this connection, pins 36 are longer than footboard 16 is thick and, consequently (for reasons soon to appear), a portion of frame 12 disposed between footboard 16 and drawers 20 has two blind openings axially aligned with the aforesaid apertures in the footboard. The blind openings are of the same cross sectional size and shape as the footboard apertures with the result that the respective pairs of blind openingaperture combinations form hollows adapted to fully admit pins 36 of the desk top member and permit the latter to lie closely parallel to footboard 16 when it hangs down in the folded desk position described above and illustrated in FIGURE 1. FIGURE 3 shows at z (in dotted outline) such a receptive pin hollow formed by aperture 16b in footboard 16 and its matching opening in frame 12. The combined thicknesses of the footboard and appropriately adjacent part of frame 12 are, of course, adequate to assure housing of the aforesaid hollow and prevent any possibility of pin-drawer 20 conflict when desk 24 is in its folded position.

As previously indicated, the frame, end board and folding desk components of my chest are preferably made of Wood, although, also as previously indicated, other suit able materials of construction, such as, for example, plasticcs, metals, and the like, can be used. instead of, or in combination with, wood if desired. Where wood is employed, any type suitable for furniture manufacture is, of course, satisfactory for use in my chest bed. Likewise, any style of finish, as, for example, French provincial, early American, etc., suitable for conventional bedroom furniture decor will be equally suitable for use on my chest bed.

As those familiar with the furniture manufacturing, as well as the moving, arts will appreciate, the chest bed of this invention is relatively light in weight, by comparison with conventional beds, chests, bureaus, etc. (the plywood character of the frame 12 top contributing significantly to this, as previously pointed out). The fact that the end boards of he chest bed can he easily removed (-at least in those embodiments exemplified by chest bed 10) for greater handling, packing, shipping and moving case, while previously brought out (indirectly, if not directly) herein, is worthy of additional mention as a noncritically advantageous feature of my invention.

While my chest bed has been heretofore described primarily in terms of reference to its drawing-illustrated embodirnent, there are, of course, many possible structural modifications of that embodiment, differing numerously in non-critical features, materials of construction, etc., therefrom, within the scope of the present invention. Certain examples of such modifications have already been given and numerous others will be suggested to those skilled in the pertinent arts by the present teachings. In further exemplifioation of this kind of modifications, my chest bed can have a drawer arrangement other than the six-drawer one shown in the drawings, as, for example, a two-drawer, three-drawer, four-drawer, etc., arrangement, in which the drawers can be of the same or differing sizes. Moreover, the chest bed can have storage means partially or entirely different in character from that illustrated, consistently with which, for example, cabinet-type storage means, could be incorporated in the chest bed in lieu of, or in addition to, chest drawers.

In the latter connection, a movable bed without conventional springs (by which is meant springs physically separate from the mattress) h-aving cabinet-type underbed storage means is not a chest bed in the literal sense of that term, although it is clearly a species of my invention considered in its true scope and essence as revealed herein. Because of the paucity of more precise language to broadly designate my unique furniture item, however, I have, as previously indicated, taken the liberty of herein employing the term chest bed for that purpose. Consequently, that term should, unless qualified, be construed loosely to coincide with the true structural scope of my invention wherever it appears in this specification. Finally, it should be noted that the bed," as well as the chest, part of my chest bed can vary in design and function, within the scope of this invention, to an extent sufficient to take it outside of the literal scope of the chest bed term.

Additional examples of modified chest beds of the above-considered type include those with end boards integrally, rather than detachably, aflixed to bed frames; those with a center leaf desk top support (rather than the two-leaf support of chest bed 10); those having a folding desk at each end, or no folding desk attachment at all; those having casters, or equivalent rolling means, attached; those employing innerspring mattresses, rather than polyurethane ones; etc. In the latter connection, it is of interest to note that innerspring mattresses can be employed wihin the scope of my invention, in spite of the fact that they have built-in springs. Further in the same vein, the numerous references hereinabove to an absence of springs in my chest bed were made in contemplation of only those bed springs which contribute substantially to bed thickness, as exemplified by box springs, and not springs such as those in innerspring mattresses which do not add substantially to bed thickness.

This invention has been described in considerable detail in order to comply with the patent laws by providing a full public disclosure of at least one of its forms. However, as already indicated, such detailed disclosure is not intended in any way to limit the broad features or principles of the invention, or the scope of patent monopoly sought to be granted. It is emphasized, in final summary, that many variations of the drawing-illustrated embodiment of my invention can exist and that all are within the scope of the invention except insofar as the following claims might dictate otherwise.

I claim:

1. Furniture means comprising:

(a) a box-like frame having a rigidly flat top and adapted to rest in top-level position on a horizontal support surface:

(1) said rigidly fiat top being sized and otherwise characterized to receive and support a bed mattress in normal use position when said furniture means is so resting on a support surface; and

(2) said furniture means being applicable for bed use and characterized by the incorporated presence of means adapted to render space surrounded by its box-like frame practically useful for storage purposes;

(b) flat end members removably attached to the ends of said box-like frame, said end members being so sized, shaped and positionally oriented on said frame as to serve headboard and footboard purposes, respectively, for said furniture means in its bed capacity; and

(c) folding desk means affixed to at least one of the flat end members removably attached to said boxlike frame, each end member thusly encumbered being recessed on its outer side to receive a pair of equally sized leaves in fiat and snug-fitting interfit; said folding desk means comprising a pair of such leaves hingedly secured to the recessed side of such an end member along the lateral edges of the recess therein and in such fashion as to permit folding of the leaves into the recess towards its center and una) folding them in winglike extension away from the end of the box-like frame to which the desk-appended end member is attached, a desk top member hingedly secured to the recessed end member in such position and fashion as to permit it to be alternatively folded fiat against said leaves when they are foldingly nested Within said recess and swung up and into desk use position in canopy-like extension away from the end of said box-like frame to which said recessed end member is attached, and hardware teams for so securing the leaves and desk-top memher to the recessed end of said box-like frame;

(1) said desk top member being characterized by the presence of a pair of integrally attached, perpendicularly outstanding pin members, and being attached to said recessed end member above, and in spaced apart relationship with, the recess therein, and said leaves being of generally rectangular shape;

(2) all involved :parts of said folding desk means being so positionally oriented and mutually cooperative as to permit support of said desk top member either substantially horizontally with its pin members resting on said leaves in a first open position or in downward inclination from an upper edge adjacency to said end member and supported by the outwardly extended corners of said leaves in a second open position sufficiently offset from the first one to assure disalignment of the leaves and pin members of said desk top member, whereby the folding desk means can be alternatively employed in horizontal and inclined top positions, subject to individual positional preferences for Writing and drawing purposes.

2. The furniture means of claim 1 in which only one of its flat end members has folding desk means attached thereto.

3. Furniture means comprising:

(a) a box-like frame having a rigidly flat top and adapted to rest in top-level disposition on a horizontal support surface;

( 1) said rigidly flat top being sized and otherwise characterized to receive and support a bed mattress in normal use position when said furniture means is so resting on a support surface; and

(2) said furniture means being applicable for bed use and characterized by the incorporated presence of means adapted to render space surrounded by its box-like frame practically useful for storage purposes;

(b) flat end members removably attached to the ends of said box-like frame, said end members being so sized, shaped and positionally oriented on said frame as to serve headboard and footboard purposes, respectively, for said furniture means in its bed capacity; and

(c) folding desk means affixed to at least one of the fiat end members removably attached to said boxlike frame, each end member thusly encumbered being recessed on its outer side to receive a pair of equally sized leaves in flat and snug-fitting interfit; said folding desk means comprising a pair of such leaves hingedly secured to the recessed side of such an end member along the lateral edges of the recess therein and in such fashion as to permit folding of the leaves into the recess towards its center and unfolding them in wing-like extension away from the end of the box-like frame to which the desk-appended end member is attached, a desk top member hingedly secured to the recessed end member in such position and fashion as to permit it to be alternately folded flat against said leaves when they are foldingly nested within said recess and swung up and into desk use position in canopy-like extension away from the end of said box-like frame to which said recessed end member is attached, and hardware means for so securing the leaves and desk-top member to the recessed end of said box-like frame; the relative positions of the involved parts being such as to permit the desk top member to be supported in desk use orientation by the leaves in their unfolded and outwardly extending positions.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 582,786 5/1897 Hawkins 108--3 Giordano 5-308 X M-attedi 5-308 Erdkamp 5308 Zabielski 52 Scheinerman 5--308 Wanzenried 5--2 X FOREIGN PATENTS Austria.

0 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

RAYMOND D. KRAUS, Assistant Examiner. 

